Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-12-30
CHIQUITO GOT A CHEW,

and life eternal. i. A. Morrison.
CHIQUITO GOT A CHEW.
One Of party Of four seated around a
table in an up town cafe was a sedxte
looking gentleman, small in stature an |
faultlessly dressed. Extreme neatness
vas the first thing that struck one in
looking at him. yet there was a sugges-
ton OF virility about him that made his
careful attire seem ont of place. One OF
the four addressed him famliarly as
"Chiquito." The name struck another Of
the party, who then heard il for the first
lime. rs = rather singular way Of ad-
iressing the sedate n not solemn Mr..
smith, and he said something 10 that ef-
feet
"Oh, that's what on. friend here and
all the other fellows used to call me in
the old days when We were forty miners in
California ~ said ChiquitO. 1T - n sort
OF hybrid Spanish, you know, and means
small; It fitted me exactly In those days.
I'm not Of a large pattern now, but in
those DAYS, when was n youth under 20,
{ was not filled out and was very small,
although l did carry the United States
mail on horseback over q stretch Of forty
miles. nearly all Of it lonely mountain
road"
''You must have met some queer people
aud strange incidents on those rides, one
Of the party remarked.
Not often" replied Mr.. Smith.
"Many a time I went over the whole dis
tapce out and back without meeting hu
man being. Sometimes, however, woulf
come across a stray Indian and sometime .
meet white man. who always had .
small arsenal strapped about his waist
and a pair Of pistols in the holsters Of his
saddle. Ii was = renconter with one of
those gentlemen ut the loneliest spot in the
lonely mountain road that is almost the
only vivid memory have Of those days
in the long ago"
There was a general desire expressed to
hear OF that incident, and Mr.. Smith con-
tinued:
Well, you know, to be . forty miner In
California YOU had to use tobacco In all
forms. don'tknow that there e&as any
compulsiOn about il. legal or moral, but
everybody did, and Young as was l did
what everybody else did. So it was my
custom to 60 To the store just before start
ing on my journey and buy u large
hunk, as they called it out there,
weighing about half pound, which
would last me out and back. But. one
morning. having small remnant OF the
weed left from my last trip, l forgot 10
get my usual supply before started off
with my mail Queer mali that was, gen
tiemcn, and rather expensive to the gov
ernment What the contractor got never
L hut L. nail ,.-ntl fnr
rying il, and never had over half dozen
letters. Once in while stray news
paper would sometimes escape the many
dangers OF coniiscarion on the long route
from the eastern states and find its way
into my pouch Sometimes after il got
To me it would reach the person addressed
to. but often il would not. for when it at
last got to his postofiice he would be
dead.
We'll, that morning had only half Il
dozen letters and no newspapers. and had
got about ten miles on the road when I
made the unpleasant discovery that
hadn't laid in my supply of tobacco. l
reined up to consider the horrors Of the
situation. | was carrying the United
States mail, which. small As it was, could
not be trified with by my going back To
set inc .oh'cco. ie' 'he ioea ot gong
without Tor wv" days was insupportaoie'
Finally made up my mind would have
TO endure the hardship as best could. and
logged on again. had got about half
way on my journey and was well up the
narrow winding mountain road when
raw q mounted man coming toward me.
nc was hiiie Ut ihore away wheh hrst
saw MN pu' owing 10 the sharp turns IN
the ROAD ne seemed 10 ne quite near, and
l sa" tnat ne was powerful ieiio", ana
kne" ne was wen III meti, Tor that was
custom OF the country. knew, tco, that
l could a. safeiy ask MN Tor MS horse d
tof any OF MS tooaoco, unless ne happened
10 nave 'er! large supply winch was
not likely but l Hade up my mind ne
hau 10 contribute SO ! got out my pistol,
pu' heiu II so ne couioh see II. As our
horses toucheu noses We stopped, whlch
was hothlhg unusnai. as Two white men
meeting always matted 10 exchange Items
OF news. OF which, as a general thing,
heltner had any.
Mornin, stranger, saic he, and l re-
peated inc GreetnS. ANY sarmints
aooutf ne inquired, meaning Indians, and
assured MN there Were none. linen II
came my turn 10 ask questions.
Eo' any Tobacco, Stranger
les' an ! IN goih teF keep II.
uuess nave 70 sloooie you io'
OIL.
Huess ho'.
uness 1 must. Ana IN an instant
hi"i MN co'ereu WIN my re'oi'er. he
'ooh Ia 'ne situation at once ana was con
'iheea' he ore" OUT long piece OF the
olack stulI Caiieu navy, Wnlcn some OF
YOU gentlemen may nave seen, nut nope
nave never tasted. lie eAtehdeI IL 10
waru me, anu sfo"ied more grumy than